Healing Testimony: How My Wife Survived Sudden Cardiac Arrest

An Unusual Sunday

On November 18, 2018 my wife, Micah Gamboa, was scheduled to speak at Celebration Church in the Woodlands. My wife and I work together in an anti-sex trafficking ministry called Elijah Rising. The church had invited Micah to share about sex trafficking, and then the church was going to take up an offering to help with the costs of renovating Elijah Rising’s Restoration Campus.

On Sunday, Micah and I arrived at Celebration Church and we were excited to share the message during all three Sunday services. After worship, Pastor Frankie Mazzapica invited Micah up to the stage to speak.

Before Micah could speak her first sentence, her head shot back violently and she collapsed into the chair that was behind her. I ran up on stage knowing that something was terribly wrong. Pastor Frankie and I lowered Micah’s body to the ground, and as I held her hand it felt lifeless.

The Dying Process

At first, we thought she was suffering from a seizure, but that was not the case. Her heart suddenly stopped beating, and she was in full cardiac arrest. She began to go into agonal breathing. Her body was making a last-stitched effort to deliver oxygen to the vital organs.

The time between breaths was about 30 seconds, and then her breathing began what’s called the ‘death rattle.’ In the dying process, a person isn’t able to to swallow or clear their throat creating a rattle of congestion while breathing. Blood also began to come out of her mouth, since her heart was not beating, blood began to pool in her lungs.

All of this happened in a matter of minutes. It was horrifying and traumatic to watch someone you love, your wife, a mother, dying in front of you. This was the darkest and most traumatic moment I’ve ever experienced.

Yet, the Lord orchestrated it to have two people present in the first service that were trained in giving CPR. Dr. Winnie Cooper and David Collins were the heroes who stepped in to provide life-saving CPR. When someone is in full cardiac arrest, there is a 10 minute window to get the heart beating again. A lot has to happen in 10 minutes, and every minute that goes by, your chance of surviving decreases by 10%.

We were on the stage for more than 10 minutes. When EMS arrived I heard the monitor flatline when they hooked it up to her. When we made it to the hospital I did not know if Micah was alive or not.

After two days in an induced coma my wife woke up and was fine! The doctors and nurses were in tears because they had never seen anything like this before. Doctors would come in asking her if she saw anything when she died. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember anything from that week.

However, I saw God do amazing things during that week. Every step of the way I was astonished at His goodness. Today, Micah is doing great, she is back at work as if nothing ever happened.

This story/testimony is still unravelling to this day, and that’s why I wanted to create this blog. To share about all the in between moments and how God is continuing to work through our lives, and I would also like to create a platform to share testimonies of healing and God’s power.

My Heart For This Blog

I can’t explain seeing a glimpse of God’s glory in this short blog post, it will definitely take a novel or more. So I’ve created this blog to share the testimony, since I realized this testimony is only available on my Instagram feed.

Since November 18, 2018, we know that we will never be the same from this point forward. Our faith has been increased so dramatically, my prayer is that this blog would encourage you and strengthen your faith.

Cardiac Arrest Survivor Friends/Families

If your loved one has suffered cardiac arrest, and you are like me, sitting in a hospital, reading blogs about the chances of your loved one ever living again. I pray this blog would encourage you to trust Jesus, strengthen your faith, and know that the Lord is able to heal and do miracles today.

I know there are many people that don’t survive cardiac arrest, the chances of surviving, depending on where you live, are less than 10%. If you have lost a loved one I pray that you would experience God’s peace. Scriptures promises the Lord can turn your mourning into joy. I can’t explain it, but He can do it.

God is the Knower of Hearts (kardiognostes). He knows everything about you, and in your darkest moments, He is able to reveal His kindness to you. His peace is beyond what we can understand as humans, and He offers it to you today.

This blog will be part of a series that gives more in-depth details of what we now call “the incident,” and events after. It is therapeutic for me to write these, but I also want to give credit to God for everything He has done. I hope to continue this blog as a platform for testimonies of God’s power.